This has been a terrible year for Kodak, but the firm had one hope: It has a huge imaging patent portfolio, and under the terms of its bankruptcy, Kodak could save itself if it sold those patents for at least $500 million. Now it has reportedly found a rather unlikely buyer: Apple and Google, who have apparently given up the patent war for long enough to team up on Kodak's carcass.Just to summarize quickly: the company first filed for bankruptcy, then stopped making cameras, sold its online photo printing service for a paltry $24 million, and quit making film. The company lost $312 million in the third quarter. Still, the firm posted more than $1 billion in revenue over that period, even if the company sold off its entire personal imaging arm, which was essentially Kodak as we know it.But still, there's that treasure trove of around 1,100 imaging patents to think of. Apparently, Apple and Google both led separate groups looking to snap up some of the patents over the summer. But under the terms of Kodak's bankruptcy, the company needs to sell that portfolio for at least $500 million. So now Apple and Google have combined forces to put in a bid for somewhere around that number. Kodak most likely will take the bid, which means Cupertino and the Goog both get the patents they want while more or less neutralizing their direct effect on each other.Apple and Google both seem to have learned from high-profile patents acquisitions last year. First, Google, which seemed built with unlimited cash at the time, got blindsided by Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and RIM in a team bid for Nortel's 6,000 patents. Google countered by snatching up 1,030 IBM patents soon thereafter. While the details of who got what aren't likely to surface, in this case it looks like Apple and Google were both able to fill out their patent portfolios with patents most likely to relate to mobile.The Kodak portfolio is full of patents for capturing, manipulating, and sharing pictures. Kodak has been behind in digital cameras for awhile, so Apple and Google were probably looking mostly for patents focusing on the latter two. Kodak has had some forays into the mobile market (see the online printing service it sold to Shutterfly), and with iTunes and Google Play, either Apple or Google may be looking to monetize photos in some way.There's another angle too: Kodak's portfolio was apparently available for relatively cheap because much of the technology, while patented, was heavily licensed. That likely means that Apple and Google, which both control their mobile ecosystems pretty tightly, may be trying to lock down mobile licensing fees from third parties and guaranteeing their ownership of sharing and editing processes available through iOS and Android. That's an educated guess, so let me know if you think I'm way off base, but I feel that using Kodak's patents to lock down and protect revenue that's already out there is more likely than expecting Apple or Google are waiting to roll out new features.What about Kodak, you ask? Well, assuming the deal goes through, Kodak will be able to buy itself out of bankruptcy in 2013. But, as I've said before, Kodak has gotten out of bankrupcty by killing itself. That is to say, Kodak has sold off its photo business while it was still profitable, and with these patents now gone, it's impossible to pretend that Kodak may suddenly revamp itself like Polaroid. No, Kodak has set its sights firmly on diving into the business imaging sector, and will likely end up looking something like a commercial Kinko's with some UPS mixed in. So while Eastman Kodak the company will likely live on, Apple and Google are about to buy what's left of Kodak as we know it.Follow Derek Mead on Twitter: @derektmead
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